Former Match Fashions Owner Sentenced to Jail

Dong Sun Mun was sentenced to three years in prison for payroll tax violations and jumping bail.

A New York district judge sentenced the former owner and operator of Match Fashions Inc. on Friday to three years in prison for payroll tax violations and for jumping bail.

Dong Sun Mun operated Match Fashions, a New York-based company that performed sewing work for couture brands, and was ordered to pay restitution of more than $304,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, from 2004 through 2006, Mun had cashed checks from Match Fashions customers instead of depositing them into bank accounts. He used the cash from the checks to pay his employees off the books to evade tax requirements, and he also failed to withhold or remit to the IRS the required payroll taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act for the employees.

In total, Mun paid cash wages, for which there was no withholding, of nearly $2 million, and failed to pay and withhold total FICA taxes over $304,000.

Match Fashions ceased doing business in early 2007.

Mun, 52, was scheduled to be sentenced on the payroll tax charges in January 2011, but the Palisades Park, NJ-resident fled to Vietnam and Korea, violating bail. He was ultimately arrested attempting to enter Canada.

In addition to the jail time and restitution, U.S. district Judge William Pauley sentenced Mun to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $300 special assessment fee.

Mun’s prosecution is part of a series of recent Southern District of New York payroll tax prosecutions of business owners in the garment industry, including Raymond Chu, who was sentenced to two years in prison; Kevin Weng, who was sentenced to four years in prison; Mindy Wong, who was sentenced to five months in prison, and Andres Ortiz, who was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.